The present invention relates to apparatus utilized for maintaining physical fitness, and more particularly, to a device that aids a person in stretching his or her calves.
The slow, gradual pulling, holding and releasing of specific muscle groups, known as static stretching, has recently superseded ballistic type calisthenics in the regime of flexibility training followed by amateur and professional athletes. Today the important relationship between flexibility and strength, endurance, and speed has come to be appreciated. It is now understood that flexibility not only aids overall physical performance, but in addition protects against muscle soreness and injury. A more indepth discussion of the benefits of utilizing static stretching to improve flexibility may be found in the article entitled "Flexibility: Day Of The Static Stretch" by Paul Schultz published in the periodical "The Physician and Sportsmedicine", Volume 7, Number 11, November, 1979.
In static stretching, the body is positioned to lock the joints around a muscle when the muscle is in its greatest possible length with as little concomitant muscle activity as possible. The result is the least possible reflex stimulation to the muscle involved.
At the present time, athletes, such as runners, perform static stretching of their calves. Most typically this is accomplished by placing one or both feet flat on the floor and by leaning forward, while grasping a railing or placing the palms against an adjacent wall to forwardly incline the lower legs with respect to the feet. It is difficult to maintain the desired inclined relationship between the lower legs and the feet in this fashion. Furthermore, it is difficult to precisely monitor the degree of stretching with this approach.
U.S. Pat. No. 956,681 of Clarke discloses a folding foot rest which includes a rectangular foot supporting member having a pair of hinge supporting mechanisms connected at the opposite ends of the member and to the floor. U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,427 of Paves discloses an exercise rocker for a person's feet. It includes a rectangular planar support member having a longitudinally extending arch support member with spaced apart recesses for receiving the arches of the operator's feet. A pair of ribs are connected to the underside of the planar support member at opposite ends thereof for permitting back and forth rocking motion. U.S. Pat. No. 2,554,718 of Oleskey discloses a foot correcting device upon which a person can stand to impart a transverse incline to his or her foot. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,472,508 of Baker et al. discloses a wedge-shaped shoe device which may be strapped to the foot to incline the foot from heel to toe for exercising the calf muscles.